Saturday, August 6, 2011

Sprouts update

God gives and takes away. We still choose joy and we move ahead. This journey has never been about us, but about bringing a voice to precious lives in Kenya that need advocacy.

Orphaned and abandoned children who need safe homes.

This week, our family moved out of our home, after finding an amazing family who was able to rent it and all that was in it until we return. It was a complicated weekend, but we somehow managed to move our stuff into a new, temporary home in the same town. This new home does not have a lot of furnishings, but it has allowed us to stay in our community and sort through the rest of our belongings until we move to Minneapolis in Sept. This also allowed us to organize our shipping container to get it ready to ship it overseas.

Last Monday, I was prepared to present our family's itinerary to our donor that we have worked with since January and receive a check that allowed us to purchase the rest of our furnishings for Sprouts and finalize our freight container to be sent off next week.

Last Monday, I received a phone call saying that our donor was no longer able to give. Nothing. No more. No reason, or explaination.

It was over.

It was a very difficult moment to swallow. It was the icing on the cake of the very difficult weekend that we had endured just a day before.

So, here we are. We can choose to be bitter, angry and spiteful. We can choose to seek revenge and go on a smear campaign.

Instead, we grieve, and process the emotions of this all and move forward with anticipation and joy for what is ahead. Our example and witness can be in how we react in these situations, too.

God's ways are higher than our ways. Sprouts is God's. HE knows our year ahead and the needs of Mattaw.

We are now in need of a new donor and in need of funding we had not anticipated for our freight container and our plane tickets.

We are asking God to provide, and informing people of the need. If you are interested in giving towards Sprouts, you may go to Mattaw's site here. Please indicate on the donation form what you would like it to go towards specifically.

Have you ever heard about Architecture for Humanity? They are the ones that published the "Design Like You Give A D--n" book I had you look at. Honestly, Sprouts sounds like something that is right up their alley, and it might help your cause that Mattaw already has a block press and that you are striving for this to be a green baby home. Let me know if you would like me to follow up on this with any of my contacts.